[SANTA BARBARA, CA, March 20 ] — ICTG welcomes Marvel Hitson to the team to serve as Trauma Chaplain. Marvel brings nearly twenty years of chaplaincy and multilingual grief counseling experience and will be joining ICTG at a critical time of need following the devastating Thomas Fire and Debris Flow in Santa Barbara County.  She will be working as an ICTG representative and Crisis Counselor on the HOPE 805 Team in Santa Barbara, which aims to provide emotional, psychological, and spiritual support to those affected by the recent natural disasters.

“We are enthusiastic to have Marvel join ICTG at a time time where our region faces expansive need among the Spanish-speaking communities,” said ICTG Executive Director, Rev. Dr. Kate Wiebe.

In addition to Spanish, Marvel also knows some Portuguese, French, and German. She developed her love of languages thanks to her upbringing as a missionary kid. Her family’s work took her around the world to Guatemala, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Brazil, as well as other countries in Europe, Central and South America.

“I have seen disaster strike developing nations as well as first world countries” said Marvel of her experiences living abroad “but every community is impacted and responds uniquely to trauma.”

Marvel earned a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a BA in Human Environmental Sciences & Family Services. Her ministry has spanned a broad range of contexts serving in the following capacities: Hospice Chaplain, Bereavement Counselor & Educator, Director of Spiritual Formation for Families, UMC Associate Minister for Youth, Compassion & Outreach Ministry Leader, and Program Coordinator for La Casa de Maria Retreat and Conference Center. Her training also includes Clinical Pastoral Education, FEMA’s Crisis Counseling and Assistance Program, as well as various psychosocial and spiritual practices that promote healing and resiliency through periods of trauma.

“When I found out about ICTG it seemed like a perfect fit,” said Marvel, “ICTG focuses on everything I’m passionate about.”

Marvel attends First Presbyterian Church in  Santa Barbara, whereshe first found out about the work of ICTG.

“My hope is that I’ll be working through congregations to support healing during times of trauma, as well as help bridge to immigrant communities so they know that they are not walking alone,” said Marvel.


About ICTG
Through the generosity of individuals, families, and granting organizations, the Institute for Congregational Trauma and Growth (ICTG),a 501(c)(3) organization, provides research, education, training, and networking tools for ministers to address long-term congregational care needs and build trauma-informed congregational ministry. 


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For questions, contact  Isabel Sterne, Communications Coordinator at isterne@ictg.org.

Everybody loves to have fun. I live about two hours from the Hollywood Bowl. On an annual basis, I will take a look at the summer schedule and see some great opportunities to sit in this iconic place for some of the best performances in the world. Just a month ago my wife and I went with friends to see John Williams conduct the Los Angeles Symphony. It was a great escape for two hours to hear the classics and be sitting with thousands of other people enjoying the moment as well.

Twenty-two thousand people decided to have fun yesterday at a country music festival in Las Vegas. For weeks or months before they looked forward to a three-day event, being with their “tribe” and listening to their music. Fun was the primary agenda item at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. On Sunday night the happy place was shattered while Jason Aldean was still on the stage at the Route 91 Harvest Festival.  

A lone gunman rained bullets on an unsuspecting crowd from a high perch 30+ stories up. At the writing of this blog, over 50 people have died and 400+ more are injured, and in some cases, critically injured. This has now been described as the worst mass shooting in modern day U.S. history.

With the onslaught of natural disasters, a divided government, fragile economy and rising anxiety among the younger generation, people now, more than ever are in search of the place where they can take a deep breath and break away from the madness. A sporting event, a good movie in the theater, a concert, a long hike in the park, a day at the beach are all on the list of escapes. Twenty-two thousand people thought they had found their “safe place, ” but it was not to be. Sadly we have entered a new normal. It appears we can “run” but we cannot “hide” from the dangers and trauma found in the surrounding world.

Where do we go? What do we do?

Living in a world of increased trauma is our context. This scenario begs at least two possible reactions: live in fear of what may happen next or accept our role in being responsive.


We at Institute of Congregational Trauma and Growth (ICTG) champion being responsive in two ways:

1)  The Congregational Trauma Preparedness and Response Resource Guide prepared by ICTG calls us to calming, community and communication as a response to trauma. “Personal calming" means, first, admitting to yourself what is happening and, then, releasing tension. Learning to become calm during and after life’s turbulence, both individually and as a part of a group directly influences capacities for resiliency. Becoming calm amid the flooding of trauma-related emotions helps our internal systems communicate better with each other. Heart rates go down. Breathing steadies. Oxygen gets to the brain more easily. When we are calm, we can better sense when we are hungry, satiated, thirsty, quenched, exhausted, or restless. We do not feel numb or hyper-vigilant. Also, when we calm ourselves during or after trauma, we begin to sense other people and their needs.” (p.9 of the Resource Guide)

2) We can also respond by offering a pro-active calming place, a safe place. As one who has given my life to shepherding youth, children and their families in the context of the church I value our physical places of worship and community as a “safe place.” I want the physical building and presence with the community, whether at the church, in a park or at someone’s house to be “home” and a place where kids and parents can take a deep breath and find safety. This takes strategic planning and programming. It requires training of leaders and students to embrace a place where they can live “calmness” in the midst of the potential threats, realized and unrealized.

A few questions to consider:

1)    Where are your “safe places?”
2)    How do you bring calming into your life and the lives of others?
3)    How can you build a pro-active calming place in your church, community organization or home?

Years ago and miles away, I once served a large church that held an annual Vacation Bible School (VBS). Because it was free for the community, the draw for this particular VBS was huge: there were hundreds of registered children, most from outside the regular worshiping population. It was an opportunity to create new relationships and minister to kids who wouldn’t normally hear about the love of God.
 
One particular year, the church staff was alerted to an unusual conversation a volunteer had with a young child during the Bible rotation. The lesson on the creation story had just ended, and the volunteers were having small group discussions with their kids. When asked, “How do you think God felt when Adam and Eve disobeyed,” one child responded, “Mad, like how my mom gets mad when she…” And the child trailed off. The volunteer raised an issue with the church’s minister, and the minister took action from there to investigate the situation.
 
Among many things this church did well, one of their particular strengths was their child protection policy. A clearly articulated set of policies on the safety of children at the church, the child protection policy had been authorized by their church’s board, utilized consistently across all program areas, and – crucially – it had been communicated to every volunteer, at every training meeting, every time.
 
That’s why this particular volunteer knew that the young child’s statement amounted to a red flag: she had been trained. That’s why the minister in charge escalated the situation to protect the safety of the child in question: he had been trained. And that’s why the child’s name doesn’t appear in this post, why some of the details of this story have been changed, and why I am writing about it now: I, too, have been trained.
 
The necessity of training like this is at the core of the new resource from GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment): The Child Safeguarding Policy Guide for Churches and Ministries. This book provides an in-depth, practical guide to creating a Child Protection Policy, covering both the legal and theological ramifications as well as providing specific tools that assist in the Policy’s creation.
 
As children’s ministers, we believe our calling is of great importance. We know that children are sacred, that there is a spark of the divine within them from which we are all commanded to learn. No children’s minister ever thinks child abuse will be an issue their ministry has to address. And yet, how many of our churches operate without a codified Child Protection Policy in place? We are so busy crafting programs, writing curricula, and recruiting volunteers that we assume our ministries are safe, that our children are protected.
 
The reality is that we cannot protect every child every minute of every day. The kids who walk through our doors have their own lives, their own situations. If we are to be congregations where children are welcomed and loved for who they are, then the very least we can do is ensure that our congregations are safe and secure places for those kids.
 
That what makes The Child Safeguarding Policy Guide such an important resource. It acknowledges the realities of day-to-day ministry while still lifting up the importance of creating and implementing a child protection policy. It moves from defining what abuse is and what effective protective practices are to the realities of reporting abuse and walking with survivors through the trauma.
 
What makes this resource stand out are the “policy worksheets” provided at the end of every chapter. We’re children’s ministers, not lawyers, and while we might acknowledge the importance of a child protection policy, the particularities of crafting such a policy can seem daunting. The “policy worksheets” in The Child Safeguarding Policy Guide help define exactly what your congregation needs from a policy. It points to state resources and definitions, it asks pointed questions about your theological and ethical commitments, and by the end, you have language that could be part of an effective policy.
 
A child protection policy is not about restricting what we as ministers can do in our programs. Instead, a policy frees us to recruit and train volunteers, engage with families, and create relationships with children in the context of a safe and secure environment. Our ministry is made better when we have a child protection policy in place.
 
When our kids are protected, we are fulfilling our calls as children’s ministers. These kids belong to God, and it is our duty to take care of them as a part of the creation that God calls “good.” Resources like The Child Safeguarding Policy Guide help us to fulfill that call, to give every child a place where they can go and feel safe, secure, and loved.

As the blue sky and cool breezes flow through Central Virginia, healing and peace attempt to shine through amid the haze of hate shown during the weekend of August 12. I’m blessed to be in a community where clergy and laypersons have come together not to talk politics so much as to unite to offer resources that soothe the souls of those traumatized.
 
I am so grateful to ICTG for all the work, modules, and videos they produce. I am excited to learn and grow and to share this great mission with congregations and the community.

As I work through the various modules, beginning with the General Ministry Guide and the Phases of Collective Trauma, I see how they will be extremely helpful to congregations and community members in mapping where they are in their response to their situations. These resource also provide a roadmap for anticipating next steps and the blessing of restoration and peace as they reach the Wiser Living Phase.
 
Please keep Charlottesville in your prayers. There is still much to do, but together we can heal and be restored.
 
Below are a few of the resources offered to students at the University of Virginia and to the Charlottesville community as a whole:
 
https://www.togethercville.net/healing-cville/
 
http://news.virginia.edu/content/wake-unrest-expert-offers-students-advice-ways-cope-and-thrive


*Did you know your financial gifts help support ICTG's unique learning-serving internships? ICTG interns receive one-on-one coaching and are expected to complete projects related to their pastoral or community leadership interests. This post was written by our current intern, Rev. Carolyn Mitchell Dillard. You can help support our internship program by donating here.